Two Zimbabwean men who were paid $50,000 (£31,985) by an American hunter who killed ‘Cecil’, the country’s best-known lion, arrived in court on Wednesday facing charges of poaching.
American hunter Walter James Palmer has also been accused by wildlife officials of killing Cecil without a permit. Palmer, who has left Zimbabwe, says he killed the lion on July 1 but believed it was a legal hunt.
Local hunter Theo Bronkhorst and Honest Ndlovu, a private game park owner, who assisted Palmer, attended at the court in Hwange, 800 km (500 miles) west of Harare.
Cecil was fitted with a GPS collar for a research project by scientists from Oxford University and was one of the oldest and most famous in Zimbabwe.
Wildlife officials say Cecil was lured out of Hwange National Park using a bait and was shot with a bow and arrow by Palmer, a dentist from Minnesota who has since received a torrent of abuse on social media.
Palmer said he had not been contacted by authorities in Zimbabwe or the United States and would assist in any inquiries.